Sefton Green Belt Review

Sefton Green Belt Review

Sefton Council is currently undertaking a review of their development land provision for their developing Local Plan and as such are considering the release of a number of sites from the currently designated Green Belt. Despite being a metropolitan borough with a large urban population, approximately half of Sefton’s area is rural and designated as Green Belt. This rural area comprises a variety of landscape types, some of which are protected for their habitat value. The Green Belt contains a small number of villages for which the openness of the countryside provides a setting. It also prevents some of the borough’s larger towns from merging. Sefton Borough Council required an assessment on the suitability of allocating a number of sites for homes, employment and renewable energy infrastructure in the Green Belt in relation to the impact on the landscape and on views.

Ryder Landscape Consultants were appointed to undertake a review of the existing landscape character assessment and update if required, an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed development on the landscape character of the proposed sites, along with recommendations for landscape treatments and mitigation for the sites, including layout recommendations where appropriate.

Over a three month period, over 50 sites were assessed. The final document contains individual site assessment sheets for each location along with a full covering report. It will be considered as part of a suite of documents which will inform the choice of Green Belt sites released for potential development in the Local Plan and also to advise on the type and design of boundaries to form new ‘urban edges’.

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Sefton Council is currently undertaking a review of their development land provision for their developing Local Plan and as such are considering the release of a number of sites from the currently designated Green Belt. Despite being a metropolitan borough with a large urban population, approximately half of Sefton’s area is rural and designated as…